Mukul Roy has said he is a BJP MLA and hence, there is no question of rejoining the party and he wishes for a parivartan or change in Bengal.
"I am with the BJP. There is no question of joining the BJP again since I'm already with the party. I am a BJP MLA," Roy told Abp Ananda in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Roy, whose political affiliation has been a matter of great intrigue, had been reported missing by his son Subhranshu on Monday.
"I'll work in whichever capacity the BJP wants me to. And when I start working politically, I will want a parivaratan (change)," Roy said, before adding that he was both mentally and physically fit.
Soon after the 2021 Assembly elections, Roy who had become an MLA on a BJP ticket, rejoined the Trinamul Congress.
"Trinamul is no more what it used to be. What it has been doing is not good for Bengal. I see one of them is in this jail, another one is in another jail. This is not right, they will have to pay for this," Roy said.
Trinamul didn't want to comment on Roy's remarks, citing his mental and physical disposition. Trinamul MP Santanu Sen has said Roy is both diabetic and hypertensive and suffers from multiple ailments.
On Tuesday, Subhranshu had accused the BJP of indulging in dirty politics involving his "mentally unstable" father to malign Trinamul's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
As speculation revolved around the political motive behind Roy's Delhi trip, the veteran politician was asked whether he got in touch with any BJP leader. Roy replied that he had tried to contact Kailash Vijayvargiya, who had not yet answered his calls.
During Roy's tenure in the BJP, Vijayvargiya was the party's minder for Bengal.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said Roy might have been threatened by the BJP and the missing complaint lodged by Subhranshu would be seriously probed.
"Who will go to Delhi or Mumbai or Punjab is absolutely his personal right. He is a BJP MLA.... I have learnt that his son has lodged a missing diary. Now if someone lodges a diary that his father is missing, an agency has taken him away, then it is the administration's job to inquire if he is actually missing, if he is alright, to rescue him, that the administration will do. I do not have much to say about this because it is absolutely their own choice," Mamata told a news conference at the state secretariat.
"I should not say this but his son has lodged an FIR where he has said that two persons have taken his father away, through some agency. I think it is better that you raise the other questions with his son. I think you know how the BJP is behaving. He might've been threatened. But he is a BJP MLA.... It is a very small matter so we don't care. It is better to ignore," she added.
Bengal BJP leaders have publicly ruled out the possibility of Roy's return to the party.
The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, and the party's national vice-president Dilip Ghosh have said Roy's reinduction will mean nothing for the party.
